


Friend

by jo19844_twfic



Series: 100 fic prompts [5]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Gen, Missing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-14
Updated: 2015-07-14
Packaged: 2018-04-09 09:44:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4343678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jo19844_twfic/pseuds/jo19844_twfic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack Is gone; Gwen and Ianto find themselves alone.  Ianto/Gwen friendship fic set between season 1 and 2 for the prompt "friend"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Friend

Gwen walked towards Jack's office; it was late, past two in the morning, and after hours of waiting she had resigned to the fact that he wasn't coming back. She would have one last check in his office though, because if Jack was going to return sneakily and pretend like he never went away that is where he would be. If he came back he would be sitting there, hunched over his desk a little concentrating on a paperwork, or relaxing with his boots on the table and his hands above his head with a cheeky grin as if he never left. She heard a shuffling of papers as she edged closer and a smile crept to her face as she neared the doorway. Her smile dropped when she saw the figure behind his desk.

 

“Ianto?”

 

He was sitting there, shoulders tense, tidying the papers Jack had left on his desk. His eyes were red and sore, his tie hung loosely around his neck and his hair was more than a little ruffled. If it hadn't looked like his heart was breaking into pieces so small they could fit through the eye of a needle, he would have looked gorgeous that way.

 

“I was just tidying this place up a little.” His voice cracked and he wiped the remains of tears away from his tired eyes. He licked his lips, took a deep breath and forced a tight smile as he looked up to her. “It's a disgrace.”

 

“It's just a few papers.” Gwen walked inside slowly and perched on the edge of the desk. Her fingers played with the pencils in the pot on the desk. “It can wait until tomorrow.”

 

“Technically, it is tomorrow.”

 

“You should go home. We both should.”

 

“But neither of us will,” Ianto said. “We're both too busy waiting for him to walk in that door like he never left.”

 

He dropped his head and Gwen leaned across the desk a little, tilting his chin until their eyes met. “You look so tired,” she said, “I've never seen you look like this.”

 

“It's been a long day.” He moved away from her touch and leaned back into the chair, running his hand through his hair and closing his eyes. “I'll probably stay here tonight. I don't think I could drive home without crashing, and if I die then who would do the filing and make the coffee?” His smile was tense and sad as he relaxed against the chair.

 

“You know that's a ridiculous way to think.”

 

“Ridiculous or not, it's how I feel.” he looked down at his hands. “Jack was the only one who made me feel any different and now he's gone. Maybe I'll go too.”

 

“And what would I tell him when he got back?”

 

“That I left because I had nothing to stay for.”

 

“Ianto.” Gwen gazed at the young dishevelled Welshman for a moment before speaking. “I need you here.”

 

“What for?”

 

“To help me,” she said. “To help all of us. None of us know more about this place than you do and unless you stay and help us then this place is going to be buggered.”

 

“You do know that you're very bad at this, don't you?” He asked, looking up from his hands. 

 

“Bad at what?”

 

“Work-based flattery.” Ianto smiled a little. “But I'll bite, it's not like I have anywhere else to go.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

“You should go. In the unlikely event that he comes back I'll call you.”

 

“You should go too. Even if you just freshen yourself up a little bit and change your suit. You wouldn't be yourself if you didn't turn up tomorrow in yet another outfit that we've never seen before just like every other day.”

 

“I have a spare upstairs,” he told her, closing his eyes. “I'm fine here for tonight.”

 

“Come on, I'll drive you,” she said. “Or maybe you could come home with me and kip on the sofa. Rhys will be in bed anyway, he wouldn't even notice and we'll be up and gone by the time he's awake.”

 

“No thanks. I just want to stay.” He opened his eyes and shot her a genuine smile. “Thanks for the offer, though.”

 

Gwen held his gaze for a moment before standing up and walking around the other side of the desk; she stood behind the chair and lay her hands on the Welshman's tired shoulders. 

 

“I can't figure you out.” Her fingers started to knead out the knots in his shoulders. “You walk around here like you're a piece of the furniture during the day, but looking at you now you've never looked more like a missing part.”

 

“He's gone.” Ianto dropped his head back and looked up at her sadly. “He's who I stay for. After Lisa he was the only thing that kept me going, now I'm not sure what to do.”

 

“He'll come back.”

 

“What if he doesn't?”

 

“He will.”

 

“But what if he doesn't?” Ianto turned around and pushed himself up from the chair. “What if he's gone for good?”

 

“Then we carry on and we make him proud.” Gwen fastened the top button on Ianto's shirt and straightened his tie, taking a moment to smooth the silk down his chest before looking up. “You keep me going, and I'll make sure you don't fall apart.”

 

“What makes you so sure that I'll fall apart?”

 

“You already look broken.”

 

“I was already this way, I'm just so good at hiding.”

 

“Not that good obviously.”

 

“When he was dead I mourned him?” Ianto asked, looking down at her. “Did you know that?”

 

“We all did.”

 

“I cried over him. All I wanted to do was just be with him and touch him, maybe kiss him goodbye. You wouldn't let me and i hated you a little for that.”

 

“You should have said.”

 

“I couldn't.” Ianto sat down on the desk and looked down at his hands. “I saw you on the CCTV, holding your vigil. You looked like you belonged by his side and he woke up to you.”

 

“You know I love Rhys,” she said. “Jack is my friend and I love him in a very complex kind of way, but my heart is with Rhys. I knew when he came back that he only wanted you anyway; you were the first person he asked for.” She moved closer to him and cupped his cheeks. “When he comes back he’ll come back for you, not me.”

 

Ianto took her hand, running his fingers across the skin, then looked directly into her eyes. He smiled a little and licked his lips. “You do talk some shit.” He sighed. “But some very welcome shit.”

 

“I've never heard you swear unless you were angry.”

 

“I am angry,” he said. “But I'm sad too and I think that's hiding it.”

 

“Angry at me?”

 

“At him. I'm angry at him for leaving. If he came through that door right now I don't know whether I'd hit him or kiss him first.”

 

Gwen chuckled. “I'll tell you what, when he gets back I'll knock his lights out and you can kiss him better. How’s that?”

 

“That sounds like a good plan.”

 

“But until then--” she pulled him up. “You're coming home with me.”

 

“Won't Rhys have something to say of you bring a man home in the middle of the night?” He asked, looking down as she fastened the buttons on his jacket.

 

“Probably, especially such a young and handsome male specimen.” She smiled. “But I can handle him.”

 

Ianto allowed Gwen to lead him out the office by his hand and then stood still for a moment. 

 

“Why are you being nice to me?” He asked. “You've basically ignored me since the moment you started”

 

“This is the first time I've really seen you.” She smiled and pulled his face down to her level a little, pressing a kiss to the corner of his mouth, feeling him smile a little beneath her lips. “You really are human.”


End file.
